Christine De Pizan's Book Of The City Of Ladies

An Analysis of Book of the City of Ladies

Like many medieval writers, Christine de Pizan constructs her work, Book of the City of Ladies, as “dream-visions” with several allegoric figures (613). Three characters, Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude, and Lady Justice all address the dark outlook the author has on men and encourage her to build a city of women. Christine often confronts the male dominated culture of the Middle Ages in her writings. She gives a woman’s perspective on biblical and classical text depictions of women throughout history. The publishing of Book of the City of Ladies takes a great amount of bravery from Christine as the perspective of the book by someone living in the medieval time period is bold, empowering and some might say disruptive. Typically, women in the Middle Ages were under educated and stay in the home to care for children and support their husbands. The contrasting feelings of empowerment and distress are parallel to present-day outlooks on Book of the City of Ladies however;

today’s feminist approach is much different than Christine’s.
The meaning of this work varies from the perspective of women and men of the Middle Ages.

During the medieval period, women were often labeled as inferior to men. Putting forth a woman’s virtues, honoring chastity, and being a woman of God is what the women strove for during the time of Christine’s publication. However, this text was undoubtedly shocking for both genders as a one of the first feminist texts. Because Christine de Pizan is the first women to be paid for her writings, her male audience is sure to feel afflicted over the idea that some of the first published writings by women are deprecating to men. The women of the medieval period feel empowered and relieved to have support by someone with the same insights. However, it is obvious that Christine relates the strong religious culture of the time back to both genders by suggesting, “Praise God for not having the worst and [women] should strive to moderate their vices and pacify them [men]”

(619).
This work is related to present-day society because women are still commonly objectified and are also seen as inferior, especially in religious and business settings. However, in the 20th century, the definition of feminism has an aggressive connotation. Today, feminists are more active during demonstrations or speak outs over topics of body positivity, rape, and violence against women. In the Book of the City of Ladies, Christine starts out by recognizing misogyny in writings like, the Romance of the Rose, for example. Afterward, she stands up for the idea that women can succeed without a man by their side. However, in the end, Christine clearly reverts back to the idea that women need a partner by stating that being independent may not be a good idea on page 619. Christine de Pizan’s writing would not line up with todays feminist ideologies because of her regression in the end. Feminists today do not accept the idea of “abuse” or “serving” to any gender.
In conclusion, readers of Book of the City of Ladies, should not look at the text through the eyes of modern day society but rather through the eyes of women in from the medieval period. Christine de Pizan should be respected and acknowledged today as a pre curser for future feminist ideologies. The ending may be seen as a deterrent from her audacious act of publishing a controversial text. Although, Christine does not debate anti-feminists as harshly as someone would in the 20th century, it is clear that her intentions are to empower women through her writing.